Watermelon Cooler Recipe
I planned this Friday Cocktail a while ago with the Bank Holiday weekend in mind. I had envisaged a sunny day with a warm breeze ruffling my hair, while I sipped this Watermelon Cooler to take the edge off the balmy afternoon. Well, that was my first mistake. The bloody weekend forecast is woeful and the only thing ruffling my hair will be the endless drizzle.
But, in true British fashion we will soldier on regardless. This delicious Watermelon Cooler can bring a touch of summer to even the most *brace yourself* moist occasions. It is a fragrant blend of freshly puréed watermelon, mint, ginger ale and vodka. So fresh and light, almost too drinkable if there is such a thing.
So, dust off your blender and go and buy a watermelon as this is great cocktail if you are entertaining a crowd over the weekend. You will have extra watermelon juice too, which makes a lovely virgin cocktail for the children or drivers, just omit the vodka. And pray for a break in the endless grey and drizzle, for no other reason than I am so bored with my hair being so frizzy.
What a lovely fresh line up of ingredients, super summery. This comes courtesy of one of my ultimate life style gurus, Martha Stewart. The recipe calls for around a kilo of watermelon, but just enough to fill your liquiser will be fine and you only need around 500ml for one jug of cooler.
So, make a start by putting the skinned watermelon into your blender or food processor to puree. It took a bit of poking and shaking to get it to all blend down, but I expect it would be easier if you had a Nutri Bullet or something a bit more feisty than my crappy old blender.
It gets quite the frothy head on it once it gets going. Pop this to one side then take a nice big jug and spoon in the icing sugar and fresh mint. Give it a bit of a poke or you can use the technical term, and muddle it.
Next, add a big handful of ice followed by 500ml of the watermelon juice.
Such a pretty pink cocktail.
Next go in with the ginger ale, vodka and lime juice. Then finish off with a couple of shakes of Angostura Bitters, delicious.
Pour the ginger ale in slowly as it does froth up a touch.
Give this wonderful mix a good stir then pour into a glass with more ice, garnished with a lime slice, or watermelon wedge.
So drinkable, refreshing and just perfect to bring cheer to a soggy bank holiday.
*Spoiler alert* you will notice I made my cocktail before the sun disappeared forever.
I wish you all a wonderful restful weekend, before it kicks off again next week with the back to school kerfuffle. Put any thoughts of this out of your mind with this delicious, fragrant jug of cocktail. This will be much easier to do if you don’t share the jug.
Lucy x
Watermelon Cooler Recipe
Makes a jug to serve 4 to 6 people
You will need a liquidiser, jug, ice and glasses
1kg watermelon (once this is blended you will have enough juice leftover for at least another jug)
2 tablespoons fresh mint
1 tablespoon icing sugar
300ml ginger ale
100ml vodka
1 tablespoon lime juice
3 to 4 shakes Angostura Bitters
Remove the skin then cut your watermelon into chunks and add to a blender and blitz to a pulp. In a big jug, muddle the fresh mint leaves and icing sugar with the back of a spoon until the mint is fragrant. Add a good handful of ice to the jug then pour in 500ml of the watermelon juice. Add the ginger ale, lime juice, vodka and shakes of bitters. Stir the whole jugful well and serve over more ice, garnished with a slice of lime.
Leave a Reply